Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Presidential Primary & Special Elections a “Mixed Bag” for Local “GOP” Pols

A majority of the Republican-Conservative politicians in the
Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island district supported Trump --- Only a
few did NOT

Meanwhile, NYS Special Elections were not kind to those in
the GOP & Conservative Party, who had been active and/or interested in some of those contests

______________________________

Today, many Republican-Conservative politicians are basking
in the glory that is Donald Trump.....

According to the only daily whose beat is wholly inside the
borders of the 11th Congressional District of Republican-Conservative
Dan Donovan, “…. Trump,who visited [Staten]
Island on Sunday, got an astounding 80 percent of the vote [t]here….”

The Staten Island Advance article went on
to say this: “…. Local Republicans gathered at Giovanni's Trattoria in Eltingville, where
Ron Castorina Jr. celebrated his victory in his unopposed race for state
Assembly…. Castorina is a Trump
supporter, as is Councilman Joe Borelli, whose former Assembly seat Castorina
was just elected to. Borelli (R-South Shore) is a co-chair for Trump's campaign
in New York and was in Manhattan for the big win…. Pleasantly surprised by Trump's big win in
the 11th CD, GOP Chair John Antoniello said, ’t's pretty awesome,
for any candidate in any election to get 80 percent. That's a landslide by far.’… Trump's visit to Staten Island Sunday
probably helped him here, Antoniello said….
Sean O'Sullivan, a former Republican, now a registered Conservative who
couldn't vote in the primary, isn't a Trump supporter and sees the win as
inevitable because [he said that] Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ‘shot himself in the foot’
with his disparaging ‘New York values’ comment, and John Kasich is too moderate
for many Staten Islanders…. But ‘Donald
Trump is a Republican of convenience…. "For some people, he's saying what people want to
hear. I don't know if he believes it,’ he said….” (See “New York primary: On Staten Island, big Trump win, narrow
Clinton victory” by Rachel Shapiro, 4/20/16, Staten Island Advance/ silive.com
[http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/on_staten_island_big_trump_win.html]).

Except for the
snarky anti-Trump stuff by the Conservative guy, I think Ms. Shapiro’s report
pretty much captures what happened in the 11th Cong. Dist.; however, the article is obviously and understandably
Staten Island-centric. So far there hasn’t
been a lot of reporting about the Brooklyn GOP supporters of Donald Trump.

Here's what the Home Reporter did say: ".... a majority of south Brooklyn nabes opted for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who took the win with more than 60 percent of all New York votes.... Just over 2,500 Republican voters turned out in Bay Ridge, 69.2 percent of them voting Trump. Meanwhile, candidate John Kasich claimed 20 percent of the Bay Ridge votes, and Ted Cruz, just 10 percent.... Trump won by even more in ‘hoods like Dyker Heights (76.3 percent of just over 1,000 votes), Bensonhurst (77.9 percent on the eastern side and 76.5 percent on the western side), Bath Beach (78.6 percent) and Sheepshead Bay (78.6 percent). He also scored victories in Windsor Terrace (53.1 percent) and Sunset Park (54.1 percent on the eastern side and 62.5 percent on the western side)..... The businessman-turned-hopeful politician collected over 80 percent of the votes in Seagate-Coney Island (scoring 259 votes compared to Cruz’s 33 and Kasich’s 26), and 81 percent in Gravesend (snagging 425 votes to Cruz’s 51 and Kasich’s 43)...." (See "Here’s how Southern Brooklyn voted in the primaries" by Meaghan McGoldrick [w/ add'l reporting by Helen Klein], 4/20/16, Home Reporter News/ Online [http://homereporter.com/heres-how-southern-brooklyn-voted-in-the-primaries/]).

WHAT’S UP WITH
GOP-CONSERVATIVE STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN AND HIS “FACTION” IN THE BROOKLYN
GOP ???

Republican-Conservative
State Senator Marty Golden is a crypto-supporter of Donald Trump, who recently was
reported to have said this jazz:“…. Golden said that whatever one wants to say about
bombastic billionaire presidential front-runner Donald Trump, ‘he is adding to
the Republican Party.’… Trump, Golden
said, ‘is bringing people out in big numbers.’ Voters are turning to Trump, according to
Golden, because the national Republican Party establishment ‘has failed them.’… Brooklyn has more than 2 million people,
Golden reasoned, and the GOP should be reaching out to as many residents as
possible. ‘This is the environment to do it in. It’s a presidential year,’ he
said....”

More
enlightening about where Golden really was on Trump prior to the primary was
where most of his key peeps were; and
here’s what they were up to. ---- In
an “in-the-know” Brooklyn blog, it was reported that “…[S]ources in the Kings County Republican
group led by attorney Ted Ghorra,
confirmed [that they endorsed] Trump…. Ghorra
[himself] would not confirm or deny the sources, but noted that Trump is a
native New Yorker and thus a home state favorite that has a lot of
rank-and-file Republican support….
[Ghorra] dismissed notions that Trump is so divisive that he will turn
off minorities and immigrants from joining the GOP….. ‘I think he (Trump) will have a lot more of a
calm, serine disposition moving forward,’ said Ghorra, adding that Trump’s wife
is an immigrant and that Trump is only seeking of a temporary ban of some
immigrants until security concerns are worked out….” ( See “Amid Litigation
Both Brooklyn GOP Factions Endorsing Trump” [ by Stephen Witt], 3/26/16, Kings
County Politics Blog [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/amid-ensuing-litigation-brooklyn-gop-factions-endorsing-trump/]).

So
far, there has been no credible report of Marty Golden or any “faction” of
Brooklyn Republicans being part of any significant Donald Trump victory celebration
---
that’s neither last night nor
since.

On the other side of the slate, neither Assembly person Nicole Malliotakis nor Golden staffer John Quaglione were down with the pro-Trump crowd. In fact, both Malliotakis and Quaglione were prominent at GOP candidate John Kasich's events inside the 11th Cong. Dist. --- almost on the eve of the primary.

POSSIBLE SHIFT IN NYS SENATE LEADERSHIP AFTER NASSAU SPECIAL
ELECTION

Meanwhile,
it looks like bad news in the “Special” with the greatest significance for
Brooklyn Republican-Conservative Marty Golden. In Nassau County, the apparent
victory by Todd Kaminsky, a current member of the Assembly, over Republican
Christopher McGrath, would give the Democrats a one-seat, mathematical edge in
the 63-member Senate [
However, it
should be noted that the“Republicans” in the majority have made deals with
several Democrats to keep the GOP in control in the Chamber].The outcome
could determine which party controls the Senate, which now has 31 Democrats and
31 Republicans. There are almost
800 vo

tes separating Kaminsky from McGrath --- with all precincts in Nassau's 9th NYS Senate District reporting, Kaminsky led by just 780
votes, garnering 49.9 percent of the vote to McGrath's 48.8 percent.

In
lower Manhattan, Democrat Alice Cancel defeated three other candidates to win
Silver's old seat in the 65th Assembly District. Cancel was a local Democratic
leader, who worked in the office of the New York City Comptroller. She faced an
unusually strong challenge from legislative staffer and Working Families Party
candidate Yuh-Line Niou; and a not-so-strong challenge from the distant third-place
finisher Republican-Conservative Lester Chang. Green Party candidate Dennis Levy came fourth
in the race in the Deep South of Manhattan district.

The
main interest of those in Southwest Brooklyn in that Manhattan race comes from
the fact that the “Republican” in the scrum was thought to have had a chance to
make a decent showing --- and Liam McCabe, the Conservative party activist, had
taken a key role in the Lester Chang campaign.
The way it looks neither Chang nor McCabe covered themselves in glory
with this clunker.

AND THERE WAS ANOTHER
BROOKLYN RACE

Williams is
the former chief of staff to Roxanne Persaud, who represented the district in
the Assembly until she won a state Senate seat in last year's elections. The heavily Democratic 59th Assembly District
is mostly in Canarsie; but it includes many
other neighborhoods of southern Brooklyn, and some of its EDs are in areas
represented by State Senator Martin Golden.

Trump got about 75 percent of the vote in bay ridge, dyker and Bensonhurst.. if quaglione runs for city council and gets a primary something tells me these republican voters will be reminded that quaglione was against Trump..

MARTY GOLDEN’S HAND-PICKED SKEL AT THE BROOKLYN BOE – SIMON SHAMOUN – IS AT THE CENTER OF A BUDDING NATIONAL SCANDAL

DON’T MISS THIS BREWING STORM: LOOK AT THESE DAILY NEWS & NY POST STORIES ABOUT WHAT WENT ON AT THE BROOKLYN BOARD OF ELECTIONS

One of the things that a Republican Commissioner of Elections is supposed to do is keep Democrats from stealing elections. >>> Guess what !!! <<< The Brooklyn GOP Commissioner, Simon Shamoun, might have absolutely dropped the ball on that. It is starting to look like there is a mounting pile of complaints [and a Federal Voting Rights Lawsuit] that the NYC Board of Elections in Brooklyn, NY, disenfranchised a bunch of Democrat voters in advance of the Clinton-Sanders Presidential Primary.According to a very provocative article, published on-line earlier today, the Daily News reported this: “In a disaster for voting rights and democracy — and a horrifying embarrassment for New York — the incompetent New York City Board of Elections inexplicably removed more than 100,000 Brooklyn voters off the rolls amid the national spotlight of a crucial presidential primary…. Tuesday, reports came from across the city, but especially in Brooklyn, of registered Democrats and Republicans being turned away from the polls because, they were told, they were ineligible….” (See “The board blows its closeup by botching the election in Brooklyn” by Staff Writers, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/board-blows-closeup-botching-brooklyn-election-article-1.2607913]).

HERE'S SOME RELEVANT BACKGROUND: GOING INTO THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY, EVERY OTHER COUNTY IN NYS INCREASED THEIR VOTER ROLLS -- THAT’S 61 OUT OF 52 COUNTIES -- ONLY BROOKLYN LOST VOTERSThe most significant fact put forward in the NY Daily News article cited above is this: “…. Of 62 counties statewide, 61 saw an increase in total voter enrollment since November — including Hamilton County, the smallest in the state…. And then there was Brooklyn — the state’s single most populous county. The borough lost an off-the-charts 8% of its active voters (102,717) and 6.5% of its total voters over that brief period…."

ANECDOTAL INFORMATION REPORTED BY THE NY POST SHOWS AN ADDITIONAL FAILURE TO REGISTER NEW VOTERSThis is the key question raised in a first-person report that appeared in the New York Post: “…. [L]ike many taxpayers, I’m wondering why the Board of Elections hasn’t had mass firings for admittedly failing to maintain its records over the past six to eight months….” (See “I’m one of NYC’s 125,000 ‘ghosts’ who couldn’t cast their vote” by Jessica Sager [Jessica Sager is a Web reporter/producer for The Post], 4/20/16, NY Post/ Opinion [http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/im-one-of-nycs-125000-ghosts-that-couldnt-cast-their-vote/]).

This piece raises the specter of a large pool of disenfranchised voters that weren’t registered in a timely fashion by the BOE --- and that would ADD to the totals contained in the NY Daily News article above.

According to the NY Times --- “The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, announced on Wednesday that his office was opening an investigation into potential voting irregularities during the presidential primary on Tuesday, when New York City’s Board of Elections found itself besieged by complaints that it had dropped thousands of Democratic voters from the rolls in Brooklyn, among other issues…. Mr. Schneiderman’s office said it had received more than 1,000 complaints from voters across the state, dwarfing the roughly 150 reports it received for the 2012 general election. Many people said they had tried to vote, only to be told that they were not registered — the most common complaint, according to Mr. Schneiderman’s office. Among complaints from New York City, the largest chunk sprang from Brooklyn, where there were reports that the voter-information books in some polling places were missing multiple pages…” ( See “Attorney General Opens Inquiry Into New York Primary” by Vivian Yee, 4/20/16 [appearing in Print Editions 4/21/16], NY Times [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/attorney-general-opens-inquiry-into-new-york-primary/ar-BBs2NVI?ocid=spartandhp]).

The Times article went on to make note of another investigation, as follows: “.... The board’s much-maligned Primary Day performance is also being audited by the office of Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, who on Wednesday released an online form for voters to submit information about their experiences….”

SIMON SHAMOUN AND A FEDERAL VOTING RIGHTS CASEIt should be noted that Simon Shamoun, along with his fellow Kings County Commissioners, have been "named" as a category in a Federal action for various failures including some in Kings County….. The initial pleadings named the NYS Bd. Of Elections, as agents and representatives of the various local Bds. of Elections in NY State.

THE NEWS ARTICLE CITED ABOVE DOES TELL A PART OF THE STORY -- "BROOKLYN" REPUBLICAN DIANE HAZLET-RUDIANO IS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED FROM THE BOE WITHOUT PAY, PENDING A FULL BOE COMMISSION RULING AND A COMPLETE "INTERNAL" INVESTIGATION

Yes, that is the same "Diane Rudiano" who is one of Marty Golden's go-fers at the Brooklyn Board of Elections; and a co-petitioner with Ted Ghorra & others -- whose complaint is the basis of the election case in court against the current GOP Chairman Arnaldo Ferraro.

OOPS !!! IN MY EXITEMENT, I MIS-CHARACTERIZED MS. RUDIANO'S FORMAL AND HYPHENATED LAST NAME AS DIANE "HAZLET-RUDIANO" --- IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DIANE "HAZMAT-RUDIANO"

THE REASON FOR THE "HAZMAT" DESIGNATION IS BECAUSE SHE CERTAINLY IS GOING TO BE TREATED AS >>> TOXIC WASTE <<< BY HER FORMER FRIENDS AND ALLIES IN THE MARTY GOLDEN FACTION OF THE BROOKLYN REPUBLICAN PARTY

For the record. Ms. ...Rudiano's actual formal and hyphenated last name is "Haslett-Rudiano"....

That is how her name appears in prior posts on this blog; and it is her name as it appears on legal papers in the Brooklyn Supreme Court case, wherein she is one of the "strawmen" petitioners in the currently-pending take-over attempt against the Brooklyn Republican Party brought by the State Senator Marty Golden faction of the Brooklyn GOP. In those legal papers, she referred to herself as the "Chairman" of the 2016 GOP Re-organizing meeting [2016 Kings County Republican Convention], even though she was never appointed to that post by the prior KCRP Chairman Craig Eaton.

Diane Haslett-Rudiano is a very interesting person with a very interesting history --- ALSO --- SHE IS WITHOUT A DOUBT VERY HAZARDOUS MATERIAL !!!

According to an article in today's NY Post --- “The city’s Board of Elections suspended the top official at its Brooklyn office without pay as they probe the mysterious purge of more than 120,000 Democratic voters from the borough rolls that wreaked havoc on Tuesday presidential primaries.... The solo suspension of Diane Haslett-Rudiano from her $125,000-a-year post over widespread polling problems is raising eyebrows that extend beyond party lines.... Democrat Betty Ann Canizio, the BOE Deputy Clerk for Brooklyn, is the official primarily responsible for overseeing the borough’s Democratic voting rolls while Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, oversees her party’s rolls, sources said….” (See “Board of Elections official ‘scapegoated’ for voting mess” by Rich Calder, 4/21/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/21/board-of-elections-official-scapegoated-for-voting-mess/]).

Even more telling are these passages from Rich Calder's piece in the Post: ".... 'It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect Betty Ann,. said an elected Brooklyn official who’s a Democrat.... Canizio is an ally of Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Frank Seddio. She has a long history as a borough district leader of rubber-stamping his candidate nominations and political appointments. Seddio used his political muscle to help Canizio, 68, secure her $120,000-a-year post, sources said.... BOE sources say she’s routinely absent or works half days. She failed to show up for work Thursday and wasn’t at her Bay Ridge home when visited by a Post reporter...."

Looking beyond the Post article, it's plain to see that Republican State Senator Golden's greasy fingerprints are all over any deal with Frank Seddio and other Dems to protect Betty Ann Canizio. Canizio is a once and future Democratic Party District Leader in Marty Golden's State Senate District, and also she is a long time close friend of old Golden hand Clorinda Annarumo, and pro-Golden Dems with close ties to the Conservative Party.

Isn't the guy identified in the Post story as Betty Ann Canizio’s chauffeur, David Annarummo, the same Brooklyn Bd. of Elections Clerk who was involved in the shredding of Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton’s petitions a few years back?

Weren't Clorinda, Shamoun and Golden deep in that Bd. of Elections scam too?

Can someone please explain to me how the Republican official becomes the fall guy/gal for a botch-up on the Democratic side? Isn't Canizio the more likely culprit? Or am I wrong? Sounds like Canizio is connected on both sides of the aisle. How do we figure that she had nothing to do with the botch-up?

TODAY >>> REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN <<< WAS MENTIONED IN CONNECTION TO [OR WAS THAT "NOT IN CONNECTION" TO] THE BROOKLYN BOE VOTER PURGE SCANDAL

The NY Post's Rich Calder did his best to "square the circle" of State Senator Martin Golden's involvement [or was it being described as non-involvement] with the Brooklyn Division of the NYC Board of Elections in today's article about BOE's Brooklyn voter purge fiasco (See "The reason 120,000 voters ‘vanished’ before primary day" [appearing in Saturday NY Post's print editions as: "BKLYN BLUNDER --- How elex board's flubs purged 120K voters"]by Rich Calder, 4/23/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/23/the-reason-120000-voters-vanished-before-primary-day/]).

I think I know why Mr. Calder & the NY Post are mentioning Marty Golden at this time and in this story; but, sorry, I can't talk or blog about that stuff yet.

Suffice it to say, somebody close to SOME of the events surrounding Diane Haslett-Rudiano's situation at the Brooklyn BOE, along with the ins-and-outs of the Brooklyn GOP fight, did a bit of a chin-wag with Calder and/or one of his associates. The long and the short of it is that Diane "HAZMAT" Rudiano has to do her final trip at the "Board" UNDER THE BUS; and somebody is trying to distance the "Honorable" SSMG from the long past her "sell by date" Diane [Whatever] Rudiano.

The problem with handling somebody like Calder's Golden source is when they try to prove a negative like this: ".... Haslett-Rudiano had a reputation of being a poor manager and could be on her way out because she was a holdover staffer kept on after state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) assumed control of the GOP’s side of the office’s patronage mill, sources said...." Then riddle-me-this-Batman: 1) Why was D H-R at the Brooklyn BOE three years after Marty's takeover and the appointment of Simon Shamoun as HIS Brooklyn GOP Commissioner; and 2) Why has D H-R twice been a named petitioner for Golden's faction in election lawsuits against Craig Eaton and his faction of the Brooklyn GOP?

I've said too much already..... [More about a lot of this in a future post on this blog --- COMING SOON !!! ]

NATIONALLY -- SOME OF THE RIGHT- AND LEFT-WING MEDIA TOOK NOTICE OF THE BROOKLYN BOARD OF ELECTIONS & ITS PROBLEMATIC PURGE OF MORE THAN A HUNDRED THOUSAND VOTERS BEFORE THE PRIMARY_____________________

NEWSMAXAccording to a report in the conservative Republican newsmagazine, “Newsmax” --- “Even before the polls closed in New York's primary, the city's election board dismissed as groundless hundreds of complaints, many from people in Bernie Sanders' hometown borough of Brooklyn who said they were unable to vote…. It wasn't until days later, after both the state attorney general and the city comptroller launched separate investigations, that New York City's Board of Elections began to appear to take the accusations seriously…. It suspended its chief clerk in Brooklyn without pay amid questions into whether she followed proper procedures in what was supposed to be a routine housecleaning of voter registration lists…. Between November and April, about 126,000 Brooklyn voters either were removed from voting lists or had their statuses changed to "inactive" — ostensibly because they had moved, their mail was returned as undeliverable or they failed to vote in two federal elections and didn't respond to letters…. So far, the board has yet to fully explain what might have gone wrong with that process…. To New Yorkers, news that people are unhappy with the Board of Election's performance was hardly surprising. It has been a punching bag for years, castigated for errors such as polls opening late, broken voting machines and poll workers providing wrong information. A city probe three years ago found widespread abuses including poll workers who peeked at voters' choices while they cast ballots and others who told voters to ‘vote down the line.’… ‘The people of New York City have lost confidence that the Board of Elections can effectively administer elections, and we intend to find out why the BOE is so consistently disorganized, chaotic and inefficient,’ City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in announcing his audit of Tuesday's election….” (See “NYC Primary Voter Complaints Draw Investigations, Suspension” from AP Feed, 4/23/16, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/politics/us-new-york-voting-problems/2016/04/23/id/725386/]).______________________

MOTHER JONESAn article put up on the internet, the left-leaning “Mother Jones” succinctly and directly told the whole Brooklyn BOE story like this: “The first head has rolled after more than 100,000 voters were mistakenly purged from the Brooklyn voter rolls ahead of this week's New York primary, which handed Hillary Clinton a much-needed win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Diane Haslett-Rudiano, the chief clerk of the New York Board of Elections, was suspended "without pay, effective immediately, pending an internal investigation into the administration of the voter rolls in the Borough of Brooklyn," the agency said in a statement, according to the New York Daily News…. Anonymous city elections officials said Haslett-Rudiano, who was in charge of the city's Republican voter rolls, had been "scapegoated," according to the New York Post. "It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect Betty Ann," an anonymous Democratic elected official from Brooklyn told the Post, referring to Betty Ann Canizio, who was in charge of the Democratic voter rolls….” (See “ The Story of the Great Brooklyn Voter Purge Keeps Getting Weirder -- Some 120,000 people couldn't vote. What happened?” by AJ Vicens, 4/22/16, Mother Jones/ POLITICS – 2016 Elections, Civil Liberties [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/new-york-primary-voter-purge]).

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com